Now, small buildings can go for green stars
The focus of energy efficiency has usually been large buildings, whether residential or commercial. Now, there is a project that will help smaller buildings reduce their carbon footprint. An offshoot of GRIHA-the Green Rating For Integrated Habitat Assessment- SVAGRIHA has been conceptualized especially for buildings that are less than 2500 sq m. The project was launched earlier this year by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) and new and renewable energy ministry. According to Ms Mili Majumdar, Director of TERI's sustainable habitat division, the cumulative contribution of energy guzzling small buildings to climate change is quite large which is why the need was felt to draw up a focused programme for this kind of architecture. Unlike GRIHA where a building is evaluated on 34 criteria, SVAGRIHA will evaluate buildings on 14 parameters. Once a building has been planned, the SVAGRIHA team will step in to advice on energy efficiency measures that can be adopted.